The Ship Has a New Captain in Penultimate 'Star Trek: Discovery' Episode

The USS Discovery has a new commanding officer, but don’t call her “captain.” Admiral Katrina Cornwell is taking command in the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Discovery. New official photos reveal this change of Starfleet boss, not to mention Sarek giving Mirror Universe Emperor Georgiou a hardcore side-eye.

Mild Spoilers for Episodes 1-13 for Star Tre: Discovery ahead.

On Thursday, CBS released new photos from the 14th episode of Star Trek: Discovery, “The War Without, the War Within.” Following the explosive events of “What’s Past is Prologue,” the starship Discovery has jumped back into the Prime Universe after hanging out in the Mirror Universe for quite awhile. But, as the last few moments of episode 13 revealed, nine months have passed for the Federation in the Prime Universe, and the Klingons are close to winning the war.

The new photos tease the arrival of Admiral Cornwell and Ambassador Sarek to Discovery. But, what are they up to? Are they pissed the ship has been gone so long? Will Cornwell miss Lorca? And how will Sarek deal with the Mirror Universe version of Philippa Georgiou?

Based on the photos, everyone will be super-freaked out by the former Emperor of the Terran Empire. Just take a look at Sarek’s expression in this photo.

Sarek is like "whaaat?"

Article continues below

Your twice weekly guide through an endless stream of things to watch, see and play.

Thank you for subscribing!

There was an error subscribing. Please try again.

Sign up for our newsletter:

It also appears that the crew is going to get a huge debriefing on what has happened while they’ve been away. Admiral Cornwell seems pretty annoyed.

A reunion for the crew of the Discovery? Cornwell is like: where the hell have you guys been? And don't say "a parallel universe," that's a lame excuse.

It also looks like Saru will still be in command of the Discovery at one point in the episode. It’s not clear if Cornwell in the center seat is a permanent situation or just temporary because she’s the ranking officer aboard. (Kind of like when Kirk took command of the Enterprise from Spock in The Wrath of Khan.) It also remains to be seen if Cornwell will end-up having a connection with an obscure original series character who some fans think might actually be a future version of herself with a different name.

Saru in command. He's been a pretty great 'Star Trek' captain, actually.

There’s a lot on the line for Discovery in the next two episodes. Numerous plotlines need to be resolved, most of which connect to whether or not the Federation can beat the Klingons. But, there’s metafictional pressure here, too. Can Discovery, a prequel to the original series make its over-arching Klingon War storyline match-up with the old canon? The show has boldly gone this far, how the crew will get Trek synched-up with the peace-loving Federation of old will be foremost on many Trekkie minds.

There are only two episodes left in Star Trek: Discovery’s first season. They will air over the next two Sundays at 8:30 pm eastern time on CBS All-Access. The season finale will air on February 11, 2018, and is titled “Will You Take My Hand?”

The Star Wars: Episode IX title is still a mystery, but on Friday, fans got their first official look at the new movie courtesy of director J.J. Abrams. The image, which shows Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) in an emotional embrace is meant to mark the last day of filming for the latest Star Wars movie, but it might also confirm a pretty huge Episode 9 leak from earlier this week.

Thanos may have snapped half of Earth’s population out of existence in Infinity War, but what if he also snapped himself? After all, the Mad Titan is transported to what looks like a different realm immediately following his snap, and brazen new theory claims he momentarily ended up in the Soul Stone universe before returning home in Avengers: Endgame.

Rumbling deep below the surface of the Fortnite: Battle Royale island is the secret that could reshape the entire map before Season 8. There’s a lot more than just the Overtime challenges to keep us busy for the rest of the month.

Players have been reporting seismic activity in the form of in-game earthquakes in Fortnite for about a week already, and things began to get more dire Thursday and Friday as huge cracks began to emerge in the ground at various locations. The first seemingly formed Thursday southwest of Tomato Temple, a second formed north of Tomato Temple, and the third emerged overnight near Lazy Links.

There is a surprise waiting at the end of Alita: Battle Angel. The new sci-fi movie from Robert Rodriguez, based on Yukito Kishiro’s manga Gunnm, has a previously unannounced celebrity and former Marvel actor playing one of the movie’s biggest roles. But who? And, most importantly, why?

In interviews with director Robert Rodriguez, he revealed that the surprise casting is meant to lock in capable actors for big roles in future Alita sequels, which was a lot tougher to pull off than it looks. (Maybe not as tough as motorball, but still.)